Josh Stephenson - 11/14/2011

It's fair to say that the impact Beyonce has made upon the pop world is quite surmountable, since her early days in Destiny's Child to her gradual progression in becoming the biggest pop diva on the planet, she's is now a one woman brand recognized around the world. Yet despite her many plaudits Beyonce has yet to have an album beside her name you could class as great, sure there have been some great singles but she has lacked that career defining album. In '4' Beyonce may have finally reached that goal by creating an album about the trials and tribulations of love, which never loses sight of the beauty that can lie within the chaos.

The album kicks off with the huge ballad '1+1' in which Beyonce's voice towers above a simple plucked guitar that builds nicely among simple keys and electronics before culminating in a huge guitar solo. It's a song reminiscent of some of the great female vocalist of our time and is quite heart-wrenching as Beyonce sings 'See baby we aint got nothing without love'. The album continues strongly with the fantastic 'I Care', which details the story of a woman trying to keep a relationship together when it's clear there is no future in it. It combines some great, scattered drums alongside an 80's inspired synth line before reaching this huge hooky chorus. Not enough credit is given to how well Beyonce uses her voice, not only can she hit the high notes but she understands when to use a softer tone when the song demands it, something that in this reality show age is starting to wane. This is demonstrated best on 'I Miss You' a softer song built entirely off a simple beat and very little other instrumentation, which allows Beyonce to show her fantastic vocal range.

It's in the middle of the album that the problems start to show starting with the Kanye West produced 'Party'. It's kicks off badly with Kanye managing to outdo himself with a guest verse worse than what he did on Katy Perry's 'E.T' coining the term 'Swagu' to rhyme with 'Swag'. Whilst the beat itself is a delicious 80's inspired pop ditty, it's just far too mellow to really feel like a party song no matter how good a job Beyonce does with it. A bonus comes in the form of a great guest verse from Andre 3000 mainly because it's nice to know he's bothered to still rap nowadays. The problems continue with the next two tracks the 90's throwback 'Rather Die Young' that feels like a Destiny's Child B-Side and the ultimately forgettable 'Start Over'.

Fortunately the mid album slump is stopped with a series of tracks that are the best on the album. 'Love On Top' is a modern dance track mixing Detroit horns with modern electronics to create a nice soul fusion that Beyonce does so well, and the track 'End Of Time' creates a similar feel with it military drums, a nice splattering of horns and overlapped vocals giving the track a power to it that 'Rather Die Young' was so sorely missing. It's on the universally loved 'Countdown' that all the elements come together to create the best song on the album. Utilising these bombastic, schizophrenic drums, gloriously joyful horns and some eccentric electronics, it mixes perfectly with Beyonce's vocals and fun lyrics to become the best Beyonce song since the amazing 'Crazy In Love'. Especially when you consider with the constant changes in pace and frequent breakdowns it's a very daring song for a mainstream market, so credit to her for been able to pull it off in such an accessible and fun manner.

This daring attitude continued further on the track 'Run The World', with heavy sampling from Major Lazer you know to expect a strange sound but this is something else entirely. It's a bizarre mix of an African infused beat alongside military drums that combines well with some Beyonce empowerment lyrics before transitioning into this bizarre breakdown. It's a difficult track to get your head around and I'm still not sure if it's pushing the boundaries of modern pop music, or one of the most annoying tracks of the year.

Ultimately Beyonce has created an album that lives up to her name featuring some truly fantastic pop music and what may well be the single of the year in 'Countdown'. '4' is more than anything else cements Beyonce's place as the number one pop diva on the planet.